The high school football season culminated with nine teams claiming TSSAA state championships at Finley Stadium this past Thursday through Saturday.
Here are the top five takeaways from the BlueCross Bowl according to the Times Free Press sports staff.
Super Syam
McCallie senior running back Keylan Syam described his running style earlier this season as being “Like a train coming at you full speed, and one you can’t stop.”
The way Syam ran the ball in the second half of the Division II-AAA championship game could certainly earn him the nickname “The Polar Express”. The 5-foot-9, 210-pounder carried the ball 20 times for 112 yards and three scores over the final two quarters in which temperatures sat around 24 degrees on Thursday night.
Baylor’s defense had no solution for McCallie’s bruiser of a back, who powered through tacklers and helped seal back-to-back state titles for the Blue Tornado with a 98-yard game-winning drive, highlighted by a nine-yard rush on fourth-and-two from his own 10-yard line.
Syam earned the MVP trophy after finishing a historic run with 26 touchdowns with his final scoring plunge providing an instant classic finish to the most thrilling game of the BlueCross Bowl.
“Bunch of dawgs”
No defense was more impressive at the BlueCross Bowl than Marion County’s.
The Warriors began the game with a 55-yard interception return by Luke Tipton and sealed their fifth state championship with another interception by Zaiden Humphrey. Meanwhile, Josh Langston delivered big hits all around the field and finished with double-digit tackles.
Myles Mays and Ashton Martin came through with the biggest run stuff of the game on a fourth-and-one late in the fourth quarter (one of two fourth-down stops), while Mays had a pair of his team’s four sacks.
Braydon Coffelt, Taylor Scharber and Damien Hughes also provided negative-yardage plays against Milan’s offense, which was held to a mere 191 total yards on 56 plays.
Marion County’s stout defense held 10 opponents to single-digit scoring this season.
Explosive start
The BlueCross Bowl opener on Thursday morning between Christ Presbyterian Academy and Battle Ground Academy saw the two teams combined for 934 yards.
While this was CPA’s last season in Division II-AA, the Lions certainly look capable of being a title contender again when they move up to DII-AAA with twin brothers Rawls and Preston Patterson returning for their senior seasons.
Rawls rushed for 336 yards and four touchdowns, while Preston provided lights-out play at linebacker before the starting defense came out with CPA ahead 38-13.
BGA senior receiver Arnett Hayes set a TSSAA record with 260 receiving yards on 15 catches. Arnett is the younger brother of the Hayes sisters Anastasia, Aislynn, Alasia and Acacia who were prep basketball stars at Riverdale High School.
First-time champions
This weekend’s BlueCross Bowl saw two programs claim their first gold ball. Macon County provided the most dominant showing in any of the nine title bouts with a 45-14 victory over Melrose in Saturday’s Class 4A championship. This was the 99th season in the history of the Lafayette program.
Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering was tied 14-all with South Pittsburg at the end of the first quarter, but the Phoenix would go on to score the final 22 points, all in the second half to claim the Class 1A title. This was just the fourth varsity season for MASE.
Freshman gunslinging phenom
Westview’s Graham Simpson may not have had the ideal finish to his first prep season, but the quarterback showed a world of potential as he completed 18-of-24 passes for 265 yards and a score in a 40-21 loss to Alcoa, which won its 10th straight state championship.
Simpson was sacked six times, but he delivered high-level completions throughout the game and did not throw many passes that fell in harm’s way other than a batted-down ball by Michigan signee Eli Owens.
In a stat line almost hard to believe, Simpson finished his first year of high school football throwing for 58 touchdowns, compared to just one interception which came in the state semifinals with his team nearing the goal line. He also set a state record with 624 passing yards and eight touchdowns in one game.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.
Staff Photo by Robin Rudd / Marion County’s Myles Mays (9) stops Milan’s Jayden Peete on a big 4th down play. The Marion County Warriors faced the Milan Bulldogs in the TSSAA 2A football championship at Finley Stadium on November 7, 2024.